Title: Moments in Time: A Close Up

Author: AppleL0V3R

Beta-reader: N/A

Fandom: Naruto

Pairing: Uchiha Itachi and Haruno Sakura

Other Characters: Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Sai. Mentions of: the Uchiha Clan, Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Inoichi and other characters

Chapter: Ninety-Three – #91 Gift: Without Wax.

Summary: Prompts from Moments in Time that I was requested to expand on. 93. 91 – Gift: Without Wax. A flower, a note, and a unique signature were all she ever left for him.

Word Count: 2,939

Rating: T

Type: One-shot – Complete

Genre/Tags: AU (Non-massacre), Pre-relationship, Fluff

Warnings: N/A

Disclaimer: If you've heard of it before, then it's obviously not mine.

Started: June 6, 2017

Completed: August 1, 2018

Last Edited: August 1, 2018

Note: As the summary states these were skits I was asked to turn into actually works. I will always put which one it was and the skit just before the chapter. They won't be in numerical order because I'm doing them as I'm requested. They won't be any more than one-shots though they may become two to five –shots (I will forewarn when that happens) but they won't become stories unless I choose to.

I'm a geek for knowing and liking the whole signing a letter 'without wax', aren't I? For those of you who don't know: The word sincerely was the adapted from its Latin roots sin and cera meaning without wax. The idea of it is that wax could be used to cover up truth and to a sign a letter that way meant that the words written in the letter were honest or 'without wax'.

Request by: Anime Freak456

*.*.*

91. Gift (Itachi)

When he opened the door, no one was there. He was used to that though, aware it wasn't a prank but merely fan girls who wanted to leave a gift or say something but lost their nerve. It was disturbingly common between his little brother and him.

But when he looked down to see flowers and a note card he knew immediately it wasn't a fan girl. He didn't know who it was, just that it was someone he knew, someone who cared about him but simply hadn't spoken about it. He had suspects as to who it was, but lately his schedule had been too busy and somehow she always managed to slip away.

She never left anything more than a different flower, a note and a signature that was never the same twice.

*.*.*

Trained to ignore emotions or not, it never stopped Itachi from feeling them. And as per usual, the latest clan meeting had irritated him far more than he liked. Itachi was not sure what he liked less, the arrogance of his elders or their presumptions of everyone around them. Even as a child, he had never taken well to the nature with which they conducted themselves. Now the only difference was that he understood why they thought they must act in such a manner. Not that it quelled his irritation any.

Being belittled by his clan elders never failed to rub him wrong and always served as a reminder as to why he tended towards missions when he knew a meeting would be held. Given the arrogance and greed of his clan, the meetings occurred more often than his elite ANBU team liked, but none complained when he took back-to-back missions any more than they did when he took month-long excursions. They all knew their captain had no wish to bow to the elders of his clan—especially not when it conflicted with his duty to the village.

Still, every once in a while, the Uchiha elders managed to pull a fast one and the heir found himself smack-dab in the middle of their machinations. This particular meeting had been rife with concern: fake concern for his well-being given all the high level missions he took, and real concern for their standing should something happen to him on a mission without him first begetting an heir. When he had realized what they had been driving at—an arranged marriage to a 'nice biddable wife of their choosing' he almost cut them off, etiquette be damned.

Instead, he sat and listened and said absolutely nothing until the end, even when they pressured him to agree with their logic. The meeting only ended because his father stepped in on his behalf and made a vague reference to the anonymous gifts Itachi had been receiving for the past month or so, painting them as courting gifts from someone of standing. And given the nature of the gifts, Itachi was inclined to agree. So despite not particularly wanting to give the elders anything at all, he bowed his head and did not refute any musings voiced in response to Fugaku's well placed statements. Not for the first time since outgrowing his teens, Itachi realized that his father was still trying his best under the circumstances to provide and protect his family.

When both men left the meeting to return home, neither spoke of the gifts. After the first few, even Mikoto, who always stirred to action at the idea of gaining a daughter-in-law regardless of the son in question, did little more than present them with a glittering smile—none in his household were inclined into pushing him into relationships.

That did not mean Itachi had not investigated. He had, of course, started with the fan girl base that had built itself quite impressively without any input from him whatsoever, and found the possibility lacking. The gifts were not salacious any more than they were baseless infatuation. Note cards left with details only someone who had spent any real time with him could know and flowers for tokens of appreciation and affection that were as simple as they were guileless. Mikoto made casual remarks about the meaning of the flowers left on the door step, often telling him what a specific collection of them would mean. He took them as fact and did not miss that Mikoto was charmed by the romantic courting gesture Itachi found himself receiving.

His circle of friends and colleagues was intentionally limited. The females among them even more so given that kunoichi made up less than a third of even Konoha's shinobi forces.

No matter how he looked at it, the giver had to be someone he knew, or at least, someone who actually knew him. And therefore, it was just a matter of systematically narrowing down the list.

Inuzuka Hana was automatically struck from the list on account of a mutual agreement to never date, and it was hardly within her character to give such gifts in such a manner. He had no ties to kissing cousins except for a shared last name; and a similar disposition to any would-be suitors in other clans or even villages that his elders would love to match him up with. That removed everybody within a five-year age difference of him. If he went older, the kunoichi he spent any real time with were either attached or would never be attached—like Kurenai and Miterashi Anko. If he went younger…

That left his brother's batch of graduates. The Hyuga heiress seemed the most likely on paper, but he rarely dealt with the Hyuuga clan and knew from his brother that the kunoichi had always only had eyes for Uzumaki Naruto. Tenten and Sabaki no Temari were in similar situations, holding quiet but long term relationships with Hyuuga Neji and Nara Shikamaru respectively. That left Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura.

He knew the Hokage's favored apprentice fair better than Inochi's daughter, but when he thought about it, the Yamanaka girl had set her sights on Sasuke when they were children.

Was it possible that there was mix-up in the intended receiver?

Itachi frowned lightly to himself, and a cleared throat interrupted his absentminded thoughts before he could pursue the new line of thought. Rather than startle or bend to the rather impressive gimlet eye the Godaime was shooting him, he merely blinked and waited for her to continue with the wrap up of their post-mission briefing. Normally, Itachi listened when his superiors spoke. But he knew, could recite verbatim, what the Hokage said at the end of each of these meetings. Good work. Get some rest. And the one she hit the hardest, especially with him? Get a hospital check-up.

Dark eyes watched her with stoic politeness from behind his ANBU mask while she did indeed tell his team exactly those things before dismissing them for the night. Though it did not stop her from threatening to put the whole team on two-week leave if Itachi did not slow down on picking up so many high-ranked missions. He merely nodded at the sharp look thrown his way for that warning as well.

The missions needed to get done, his team was the best suited, and they were all willing and able to undertake such tasks. It was not a line of thinking he pointed out to the Hokage on account of having more sense than most of his workaholic colleagues when it came to Tsunade.

With the dismissal, he turned to his team for a brief moment of unspoken farewells before all four scattered to return to village life for the next three days. After a month of being practically on top of each other, none of his team wanted to so much as compare notes for their mission reports before the next mission. The intent was fine by him; after all, it allowed him to ascertain an answer to his question.

If his logic was sound, that answer would tell him one way or the other the identity of his secret admirer.

*.*.*

Itachi found the person he was looking for by chance—calculated chance, certainly, but chance all the same. Team Seven still had preference for Training Ground Three where their then-sensei had given them their first test as a squad. They rarely reserved the training area anymore thanks to their different paths and how irregularly they were all in the village long enough but like clockwork, they tended to reserve the place on Monday mornings when all four were capable of attending. Since Sasuke had recently returned from a short mission of his own and had made a comment the night before at dinner about possibly meeting with his team, Itachi assumed it would be a good bet that all four—including the Hokage's favored apprentice—would be in attendance. Failing that, he supposed he could always stop by either the Hokage Tower or the hospital—the places the pink-haired kunoichi was known to frequent.

The backup plan had proved unnecessary when he arrived to find the four member sprawled in front of the three wooden posts sporting scrapes and bruises and contented comradery the likes of which had bound them together for the last decade. Sasuke was the first to notice Itachi, turning from a baseless argument, one lacking both real content or heat, with Uzumaki leaning against the middle post to acknowledge his brother's approach with a simple nod and half-smile. Even through the worst of his teenage years, Sasuke had never stopped looking up to Itachi, though he had long since stopped putting Itachi on a pedestal—a change that had allowed them to bond like the brothers they had been born as. A change that Itachi knew he owed to the other three individuals in the clearing more than anyone else.

Uzumaki, having lost his verbal sparring partner for a moment, glanced at Itachi too and flashed him the same wide grin most people got. It was the blond's version of a polite greeting, if a more enthusiastic version. Sai was next, sparing Itachi a glance and a nod from his position atop the middle post, one foot tucked under a thigh to better balance a sketch book and the other hanging close enough to Uzumaki's head that the young man kept absentmindedly pushing it away every time it brushed his skull. Last was Haruno, who half-leaned against the farthest post from Itachi, her feet shoved under Uzumaki's thighs and a huge volumn text open and mostly forgotten in her lap thanks to her teammates stealing all of her attention.

The young woman gave him a warm smile, the kind he'd seen her reserve only for people she knew well enough to like, and was the first to verbally greet him. "Itachi, what brings you to our humble little clearing?"

Though he could see the question reflected in his otouto's face he addressed the kunoichi instead. "I had hoped I would be able to catch you, Haruno-san." He could see Sasuke straighten, sitting up completely away from the post and his dark eyes narrow slightly, but both were ignored in favor of cataloging the pink-haired woman's response, hoping to glean any indication that she might be his secret admirer.

Jade green eyes blinked, surprise writ across her face but her smile did not fade, only changed to reflect her confusion. Haruno nodded all the same and set the book aside so she could free her feet and stand up with the grace of a dancer—or a shinobi well-honed at their craft. "I assume you mean now, since you came all the way out here to find me?" The ease with which she moved had him reconsidering the possibility of her being the source of his gifts. After all, if she were interested in him in such a respect and had chosen to remain anonymous, would the possibility of being confronted not cause even a hint of worry? Assuming of course she had not been waiting for Itachi to arrive at the conclusion and was waiting to see if he would find and confront her. But even then, would she not be anxious of his answer?

He nodded, keeping all hints of his questions to himself. Regardless of the validity of his hunch, Itachi had never been the type to tip his hand when solving a mystery—not even for this new type of mystery. Haruno did not act smitten—did not act at all like the women of his fan-base as Inuzuka and Shisui called them—and each step she took spoke of ease and confidence rather than a woman uncertain as to whether her attentions had been discovered. She did not hesitate to follow him to the other side of the clearing when she nearly caught up to him and he turned to walk, merely fell in step with him, curiosity shining bright on her heart-shaped face.

"I would like to ask you a personal question, though I think it might be more of a formality, so to speak."

Confusion drew her eyebrows closer together, "I promise not to be offended if that's what you're asking. Unless you ask something offensive, then I promise nothing." A twinkle of mirth in those pretty eyes. For a moment he considered what a relationship with this woman might be like and found he did not object to her gentle teasing. Certainly preferred the calm and centered focus she gave him without expectation.

"I found myself on the receiving end of a…secret admirer." He watched her face for tells, saw surprise in the widening of her eyes and wondered what it meant. However, he had no intention of beating around the bush. He wanted a straight answer, therefore he would ask a straight question. "I wish to know if you are that person."

A beat of silence as she seemed to digest his inquiry. Then a soft laugh. "And here I thought I was being subtle. Sasuke said you had always been chased overbearingly by your 'fanclub'. I thought maybe something more, romantic? Thoughtful? Might make me stand out."

The surprise at finding himself proven correct was undeniably…pleasant. Though by the way she seemed to have resorted to something akin to self-depreciating told him his reaction was as muted as normal. "I am not objecting, Haruno-san." He interjected quiet and firm before she could take his silence as rejection. "I am confused. Why would you wish to…court me, as you say?"

Again she went quiet, but this time her eyes searched his face either to ascertain validity or find the answer he wished to hear. He remained impassive, refusing to give her anything to go off of so she would be forced to give him her truth. He needed to know what about him had caught her eye so completely. His title? His rank? His family name? He did not know the young medic, but she could have as easily gotten any of those things from his brother if she were the gold-digging type. But he had never gotten the sense of someone conniving under all that straightforward persona. Certainly Sasuke would have warned him. Speaking, of she had mention his brother's hand in her machinations—a clear endorsement from his younger brother if he was giving advice to would-be-suitors. If deceit and fame were not her game, then what reason did she harbor that made her pursue him so?

When she finally opened her mouth she wavered, "You're going to think this is silly, but I saw you at the party the Yamanaka's threw in the spring—to celebrate the expansion of their shop?" He nodded when she seemed to require confirmation that he knew what she was taking about. He had been invited by Inoichi not as an Uchiha, but as someone who had worked in Inoichi's unit during the Yamanaka's ANBU interrogator days. Yamanaka was one of the handful who looked at him and saw Uchiha Itachi, accomplished shinobi first and Uchiha Itachi, heir to the Uchiha Clan last. So he made it a point to attend the events he was invited to whenever possible. "Anyway, Shika had conned you into several games of shogi—"

"I was not conned, I agreed." While he was not in the habit of cutting people off, the miffed surprise he felt at her painting of the events had made him feel the need to correct her.

She paused and then snorted to punctuate the shake of her head. "Conned, Uchiha-san. Shika lounges in that corner as often and long as his mother and teammate will let him, and when that doesn't work he cons people into play rounds with him under the guise of 'socializing' so that they have to leave him be until the end of the game."

Itachi paused, considering that. Found it to ring true of the lazy genius but refused to concede that he had been conned into playing all those games. "Nara-san is a worthwhile opponent, intentions aside, I find it a welcome pastime."

The twitch of her lips blossomed quickly into a full blown smile, honest and sweet. "I figured as much. I tried not to stare, but I've played Shika before—and lost spectacularly—but you kept up just fine. And as cliché as it sounds, I guess I was just taken in by your mind, and I don't know, I wanted to engage it." Frustration began to pull at her expression as she fumbled the end of her explanation. Huffing a little, she met his eyes once more, "I want to date you—if I haven't completely blown any chance I might have had."

He let the moment stretch between completely unintentionally while he considered her suit, weighing her reasoning and actions into his decision. He had come to terms with being courted, so to speak, and hardly found himself incensed by the role reversal. If Haruno wanted to instigate affection, he would be glad to be lead until he could understand the intricate dance she offered. No, the question was did he wish to dance with her? Watching her with calculating eyes, he find himself nodding slowly. "I would be glad to…date you, Haruno-san."

"Sakura." The kunoichi corrected, the mix of relief and delight unmistakable as they dominated her pretty face. "I mean, please call me Sakura."

He nodded again, acquiescing with ease. "Then please call me Itachi."